Barbara and I are looking forward to our five
weeks in North America. The
planned trip is staying with Bonnie and Brian in Vancouver from May 18 to 21; catching
a bus to Seattle with three nights in a log cabin on a lake in the suburbs;
driving for two weeks meandering down the US West Coast including catching up
with Barbara’s nephew in Portland; four days in an apartment in San
Francisco where we will be joined by Jo Anne (our friend from Los Altos);
Monday June 11 flying to Las Vegas where we will enjoy the Cirque-de-Soleil
Beatles Love performance, one of my ‘bucket list’ items; and then on to
Fredonia where we will spend 12 days staying with Mom and catching up with our
American family.
Activities since the last blog entry have
included our weekend in Canberra (early April), 20 year reunion of PBC small
group on Easter Saturday, Jo Anne (from Palo Alto) visiting with us
for 2.5 weeks, celebrating two birthdays, attending a cousin’s 80th birthday in Uralla and staying in Tamworth last
weekend, celebrating my 62nd birthday yesterday, two rounds of chemo, and
facilitating seminars in Sydney, Armidale and Kuala Lumpur.
Just to let you know – there might be a
sizeable gap until my next blog entry, which is likely to be in July.
Meanwhile, here are some photos to celebrate
some of our recent events.
Canberra
We enjoyed catching up with friends at breakfasts; having English high tea at the Canberra Hyatt (a great hotel); and our main goal seeing the Renaissance paintings exhibit (from Italy) at the National Gallery.
You have seen the tale of Singapore's Marina Bay – now enjoy the tale of Canberra – to complete a 'tale of two cities'. These photos were taken on our various walks.
David with John Curtin (WW2 prime minister) and Ben Chifley (post WW2 PM)
New Parliament House
Magna Carta Place to commemorate its importance to Australia's heritage
Canberra Hyatt Hotel where we had breakfast with Geoff and Pam and a delicious high tea
Barbara sitting in the Old Parliament House Gardens
David on souther shore of Lake Burley Griffen with War Memorial in background
Aboriginal heritage garden outside Portrait Gallery
Old Parliament House
National Gallery where we saw the Renaissance Exhibit
Sculpture Garden outside National Gallery with Carillon in background
The Carillon, a gift from Britain, which I loved visiting as a kid
Original cottage on sheep station that became Canberra
Sir Robert Menzies, Australia's longest serving PM on walk named after him along northern shore
Citizenship sculpture
Captain Cook 3 discovery trips memorial
PBC Small Group 20 Year Reunion
In the early nineties we belonged to a small group, that was part of Petersham Baptist Church. We have kept in touch with each other over the years. Here we are together with two sets of children and Jo Anne joining us. We gathered at Club 55 where we met frequently so that Barbara and I with four young children could both attend. So, naturally, our reunion had to be here. We came from Sydney, Bathurst, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur to be together and it was a wonderful time from afternoon tea until after dinner, Easter Saturday, 7 April.
You can see it was a very happy time
Wedding Quilt
Joanne brought a wedding quilt she had made for one of our sons. Here she is showing it (photo by Sharynne) standing in what has become our fifth bedroom (our second lounge room). Jo Anne and Barbara drove to Brisbane to deliver the quilt travelling through the New England ranges and returning by a more westerly route to show Jo Anne parts of NSW and Queensland she had not seen.
Family Birthday
Friday 13 April we celebrated our youngest's birthday, being the third celebration that week starting with the PBC reunion and then Jo Anne's 60th Australian celebration. Yet another of the many celebrations we have enjoyed at Club 55.
My Cousin's 80th Birthday
Among the family and friends that came to my cousin Keith's 80th birthday party at his daughter's Uralla home were four of his five cousins. Keith is the eldest and my brother is the youngest with each having a major birthday this year. We took Keith and his wife to the Bell Tower Restaurant for breakfast on his actual birthday.
My brother and cousin enjoying morning tea in downtown Uralla
Cousins catching up at the party
My cousin with some of his family.
David and Barbara and the HEY mobile, getting ready to leave John and Alison's home
Celebrating Keith's actual birthday, May 7, with breakfast at the Bell Tower Cafe
David's Birthday
We celebrated my birthday at Franks' Pizza Place, which we have frequented over the last quarter of a century or so. My brother intends to attend all my birthdays and this time he could attend two birthdays, Keith's and mine.
